Concealed

Gracie covered her mouth, muffling a small yawn as she sat across from Brian and Michelle at some fancy Italian restaurant that Brian had chosen to take them too for dinner. She smoothed the palm of her hands over the fabric of the black floral sundress she was wearing and looked up at her dad who was telling some random story from his last tour with Avenged.

Gracie wasn't all that interested in his story, considering she didn't really care anything about tour, but she pretended she was interested, not wanting to hurt her dad's feelings. After a while, the conversation changed and soon Gracie was being asked questions she wasn't sure she wanted to answer.

“I...uh, well—” She stumbled over her words.

Brian laughed softly at his daughter and reached across the table for her hand, “You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, Monster. I just thought you might know how your mother's family was doing.”

Gracie licked over her lips and shook her head, “Not really,” She mumbled, “I haven't spoken to them in a while.”

Brian's eyes narrow with curiosity, “How come? Did something happen?”

Gracie quickly caught on and realized that her mom must of have not told her dad about what had happened, and for that she was grateful. She wasn't ready to face it yet, or even speak about it. The entire situation was all screwed up and Gracie wasn't sure how to fix it, or if it was even fixable.

“No. Nothing really happened,” She lied smoothly, “Grams doesn't approve of me playing basketball. She thinks I should be in dance or learning the piano. So I've just kept my distance from them lately, I guess.”

Brian shook his head, “I swear that old lady is crazy.”

“You're right,” Gracie laughed.

“I don't see what's so wrong with a girl playing basketball,” Michelle added before sipping on her glass of wine.

“There's nothing wrong with it,” Brian said, “She's just old fashioned.”

Gracie shrugged and sipped on her cola, enjoying the bubbly drink. “I don't see how my life and what I do concerns her anyhow.”

“It doesn't,” Brian agreed, “Besides, your mother and I are the ones who decided to let you try basketball instead of pushing you towards something a bit more lady like. Grams should be mad at us if she's going to be mad at anyone, not you.”

“It's okay, dad. Doesn't matter.”

He nodded and the conversation was quickly changed to something else. The three ate dinner peacefully with some light conversation between them before heading home. It was almost nine when they arrived back at the house, and Gracie immediately headed upstairs to put on something a bit more comfortable other than her dress.

No matter how hard she tried, Gracie just couldn't stop thinking about how much she missed her mom. She was thankful that when her mom called back before they went out to dinner that she was able to talk to her. Gracie couldn't deny the fact that she was a bit homesick, but she did her best to push the thoughts aside, knowing that being home in Nevada right now would probably be the worst thing at the moment. It still didn't stop her from missing her mom though.

However, Gracie was enjoying being with her dad. She misses him when she's home in Nevada, and right now is her chance to spend as much time as she wants with him, without having to worry about not having enough time. Luckily this summer they have all the time in the world.

Just as Gracie was hanging her dress up in her closet, a knock at the door caught her attention. “Come in,” She called out.

The door opened wide and there stood her dad. “Want to take a walk down at the beach?” Brian asked.

Gracie smiled and nodded, “Sure.”

She slipped on her flip flops and followed him downstairs and out of the house. Lucky for them, the beach was practically their back yard, which was always nice considering how much Gracie loved the ocean. She didn't get to see it much since she lived in Nevada year around, which was one of the things she hated about living there.

The two of them walked along the shore. Brian stood far enough away so the water didn't splash against his shoes, but Gracie didn't seem to mind it as she walked right through the water, allowing it to soak her feet and flip flops.

“Tomorrow everyone is coming over for a Bar-B-Q,” Brian finally said, diminishing the silence between them.

“By everyone you mean...?”

He smirked, “Everyone from the guys, the wives, Papa Gates and Suzy, and McKenna is gonna try to stop by too.”

Gracie smiled, “I haven't seen McKenna in forever.”

“She's been pretty busy lately,” He shrugged, “'I'm lucky to see her once every few weeks.”

She laughed, “Well she does have her own life these days, dad.”

“Is it weird?” Brian asked suddenly, “For her to be only a few years older than you, I mean?”

“Not really,” She shook her head, “It feels like I have a sister instead of an aunt, which is nice considering you and mom haven't had any more kids yet and I'm an only child.”

“I thought you liked being an only child,” He narrowed his eyes.

“You thought wrong,” Gracie scoffed, “Being an only child sucks, dad. Seriously, I hate it, especially since mom works all the time and I'm home alone.”

“But you're not always home alone,” He pointed out, “In fact, most of the time you're with Grams or Uncle Tommy.”

Gracie frowned at the thought of her grandmother and uncle. She didn't want to think of them at that moment, let alone actually talk about them.

“Yeah but going to Grams or Uncle Tommy's house isn't that great,” She murmured.

“I thought you loved hanging out with Uncle Tommy,” Brian sighed.

She shrugged and looked away at the water, “He's all right. Just gets boring after a while.”

He nods his head, “I understand that, Monster.”

No you don't. She wanted to say but bit her tongue instead, knowing it would only cause him to question her even more. It was true though. He didn't understand any of it. No one understood why Gracie didn't want to go over to her Uncle Tommy's house any more. Her entire life growing up she was always close with her mom's brother, especially considering he was younger like McKenna. Not as young of course, but in his late twenties.

Gracie used to adore him and beg to spend time with him, but things had changed within the past year. Uncle Tommy was no longer Gracie's favorite uncle, and her mom and her family knew why, they just didn't believe her. Gracie couldn't blame them though. Over the past few months she had a bit of a track record of lying. Not huge lies, but little white lies, and because of that no one believed her or trusted her word.

“Hey dad?” Gracie looked over at him.

“Yeah?”

“Can we go see Uncle Jimmy one day?”

Brian frowned at the thought of his lost brother as he nodded slightly, “Of course. I'll take you over there next week sometime, okay?”

Gracie nodded and leaned into his side as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, “Thanks dad.”

“You’re welcome,” He murmured.